Hidden fees you might not be aware of, continued

Even if your bills are automated, it’s beneficial to take a look at them now and then to make sure you know exactly what you’re paying for. Depending on the extra fees, you may either want to shop around for a different product or service, or there might be an error that you need to fix. The following are some common hidden fees to be aware of:

Medical bills

Don’t just automatically assume that the medical bills you receive in the mail are completely accurate. In fact, a great deal of medical bills contain errors, so it’s important to check your bill carefully before paying it. Although these mistakes are usually unintentional, patients are frequently billed twice for the same procedure, or billed for a procedure that they didn’t even have, and one that their insurance carrier doesn’t cover. Check all the itemized charges on your medical bills and if anything looks strange to you, contact both your doctor’s office and insurance carrier to verify the charges.

Banking

Depending on who you bank with and/or the type of account you have, you might be paying monthly maintenance charges just to have a checking account. If so, you might want to shop around for another bank that offers better benefits, including free checking accounts. Other banks may impose a fee if your balance is too low, so you’ll want to make sure you aren’t paying this fee by consistently keeping your balance at a certain amount. There are also potential overdraft fees to worry about if you have overdraft protection. These fees, which usually range between $10 and $35 per transaction, will allow consumers to make charges to their account, even if they don’t have the available funds. A lot of people will often opt for overdraft protection as a last resort or in case of emergency, with no intentions of actually taking advantage of it, unless absolutely necessary. But if your bank account balance drops to zero without your knowledge (for example, if a check you deposited ends up bouncing) and a bunch of your bills go through, you can end up getting slammed with multiple overdraft charges. If you don’t check your bank account often or go through the itemized transactions, you may never even be aware that you’re paying such fees, especially if you weren’t even aware that you opted for overdraft protection. To avoid this, either contact your bank to opt out of overdraft protection, or log into your bank account frequently to ensure you always have the funds to cover your bills and purchases. It can also be helpful to balance your checkbook to ensure you don’t overdraft.

Are you receiving periodic payments from an annuity or structured settlement, but wish there was a way to receive your money faster? There is! Peachtree Financial Solutions can buy your future payments. By taking over your payments, we can offer you the money that you’d otherwise wait months (or years) to receive in one lump sum, and you may be able to receive it in as little as 90 days.

Not sure if you want to sell all of your future payments, but could still use some extra cash to take care of bills or to make a large purchase? We offer a variety of settlement payment purchasing options so that you can choose the solution that best suits your needs and goals. Many of our customers choose to sell just a portion of their future payments instead of all them, so that’s always an option. And if you ever decide later on that you want to sell more of your payments, you can always contact Peachtree again.

Are you ready to get started, or would you like some more information about how the process works? Contact Peachtree Financial Solutions today. We’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have, and we can also provide you with a free, no-strings-attached quote.